BEREA, Ohio -- With Jimmy Haslam standing yards away in a Pilot Flying J button-down shirt, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stood on the Browns practice field Thursday afternoon and pledged his support for Haslam in the wake of his rebate fraud scandal.

"Jimmy Haslam is a man of great integrity,'' said Goodell, here for a USA Heads Up Football clinic. "We're proud to have him as an owner in the NFL and think he's going to be a great owner for the Cleveland Browns and their fans here.

"He's as disappointed as anybody in what happened at Pilot J and he's working hard to fix it and correct those issues, both from a structural standpoint and to make amends. He's kept me very much involved. I think ... as he tells me I was one of his first calls to inform me what was happening after he learned about it and he's been great at keeping us informed.''

Goodell said Haslam's fellow owners still view him favorably. It was one year ago Friday that Haslam reached an agreement to purchase the Browns from Randy Lerner for $1 billion.

"You never want to see this kind of thing happen, particularly to a partner in the league,'' said Goodell, who spoke to Haslam inside the Browns' facility. "So obviously his partners care a great deal about him and as a partner they want to see him getting off to a good start. This is not what anybody intended, not (what) anybody anticipated, but he’s a man that I think everyone truly respects in the NFL."

Goodell said Haslam assured him he knew nothing of Pilot Flying J's practice of cheating trucking companies out of fuel rebates. Seven Pilot employees have already pleaded guilty, and some have told federal authorities that high-level employees knew of the scheme.

"Yes, absolutely," said Goodell in a seven-minute press conference. "He's been very clear that he’s had no knowledge of that and he’s been clear publicly and clear with you all.''

Goodell said the NFL didn't cut corners on the vetting process because Haslam was a minority owner in the Steelers.

"When you’re going through a controlling ownership position, that’s a big step up so we don’t just pass that off,'' Goodell said. "We do the same vetting process. Obviously he knows people in the league after being an owner, so there were certain aspects of that which were easier. But we didn’t short-circuit anything.”

Goodell added: "This was a surprise to him and his senior-level management. From that standpoint I don’t think he was aware of it and I don’t know any way we could have been aware of it. It was not disclosed to us.”

Goodell said he has not been in direct contact with the FBI and declined speculation if Haslam is indicted.

"We're not going to play the hypothetical game," he said. "Right now he’s addressing the issues. We’re confident he’s going to deal with it properly.

"Right now this is an issue where he’s had some people in his organization that have obviously not conducted themselves in a way that’s consistent with what he wants. He’s fixing it and he’s gotta do that. Those things happen in big organizations. Jimmy is more disappointed than anybody but I don’t think it’s a matter for us at this moment.”

Goodell acknowledged that the Browns are one of the NFL's marquee franchises.

"Probably no one knows that more than I do from my experience here,'' he said. "I think Jimmy Haslam came into this with a mind-set that he was going to do everything possible to get this franchise turned around in a positive direction and a team that this community will be proud of not just in any single year but consistently and to create a winner.

"And he's brought in great talent. He's brought in great people. He set the organization obviously in a different direction. I think that's all positive and good for the fans here and ultimately good for the NFL."

He's confident the investigation won't hurt the team.

"I don't believe it's distracting anybody in that building, and that's what really matters at the end of the day,'' said Goodell. "And Jimmy obviously is focused on that but he's got a lot of great people that he hired to do the job. He always intended to stay involved with Pilot J.''

He was asked if he would discipline an owner who's been accused of a crime in the same way he sometimes does players.

"Yeah, we actually hold ownership to a higher standard and management,'' he said. "I think we’ve proven that in what we’ve done. It's not just accused. As you know, in our policy, oftentimes we let the criminal process unfold because you need to do that to find out the real facts. Sometimes we don’t have all the facts and we need to do that. What we look at is multiple offenders. As you know, that's a real focus for us.''

On the first day of training camp, Haslam told reporters that he's been keeping Goodell apprised on a regular basis.

"Our style is to be very transparent and very open and when the government investigation happened on April 15 one of the very first calls we made was to the NFL,” Haslam said. “We’ve been in constant contact with the NFL and they have been very supportive in working with us and we are very optimistic about the outcome.”